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First half superlatives on This Week in Hockey East · This Week in Hockey East

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: Hi folks, welcome to another episode of This Week in Hockey East, along with Bridget Prue.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Eric Galante.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: Final week of the women's first half before they go on the holiday break, and we're gonna start there with a really crucial matchup between the top two teams in hockeys going into this final weekend, Northeastern, which has been on a roll against Boston College, Friday, Saturday series.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: We'll have the Saturday game for you.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: 1.30 start on Nesson.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: But the bigger deal, Bridget, and we're gonna talk about this a lot over the next couple of weeks.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: This is Saturday's game, is the final women's home game at Matthews Arena.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: So let's just start there, right, with the magnitude of that before we even get to the game.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, it it's a time for reflection on all of the great things that have happened for the women's program in that building.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: And when you look back at all they have accomplished, they've won a lot of different titles, uh, eight bean pot titles, three ECAC titles before they switched over to Hockey East.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Then they won four hockey East titles there at Matthews Arena.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: And some of the best players in women's hockey have come through.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think a Kendall Coyne Schofield, who's a professional and played in the Olympics, Aaron Frankel, Alina Mueller, they've all had pro careers and many other players that have played at Northeastern that have gone on to be uh predominant players in the women's side of hockey.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: So there's been a lot of big names, a lot of big games played at Matthews Arena, and that's one of the reasons why it's gonna be sad for them to see it go, not just the fact that it's a historic building uh and it was the first home of the Boston Bruins.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this season it's been special for them too, because Northeastern still doesn't have a regulation loss at Matthews Arena.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: They are nine wins and an overtime loss against UNH at Matthews this year.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: So another reason why they're gonna uh not like to see it go is just they've had so much success there.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it does make the stakes of this game a little more interesting, right?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Because Northeastern does drop that game in overtime to New Hampshire on Tuesday.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I think the thing that was a little surprising was Northeastern special teams have been so, so good all year long.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: And they allowed a short-handed goal and two power play goals to New Hampshire in the four to three victory, but still overall nine and one to start hockey.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Bridget, you saw Northeastern last week when they played that really important Penn State series that we talked a lot about.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: They end up splitting that weekend.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: What was the thing that stood out to you about the Northeastern team that we've seen this year?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think one thing is that they're putting up great offensive numbers, not just the normal defensive numbers that we know.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Dave Flint coach teams are very good defensively on the penalty kill, good goaltending, but the offensive numbers have been impressive, and Lily Shannon continues to be on a roll.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: She's had at least one goal in each of the last six games, 14 points in the last eight games for her, and that includes scoring in both of those games against number four Penn State last weekend, which is not an easy team to score against.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: So she leads Hockey East with 13 goals.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but it's not just her that's doing the scoring, right?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Northeastern has 17 different goal scorers this season, so they're getting it throughout the lineup.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: And Alessia Beckler, the freshman defenseman, got her first collegiate goal this weekend.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And you look at striker Zablocky, already has seven goals as a freshman.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: But similarly, BC has some freshmen lighting it up too, Eric.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they certainly do.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: And some of these names are going to come up when we go later in the show.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna talk about some of the best players that we've seen in the conference so far this year, kind of a natural halfway point here, getting going into Christmas break.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, big weekend for Boston College, right?
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: They were, remember, they were four, six, and one.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: They lost to Yukon early in November, but all of a sudden now Boston College is five and one in their last six games since that Yukon loss.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: They beat Yukon in that second game and they've kind of gone on a roll since then.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: They end up splitting with St.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Lawrence out of the ECA seat last weekend.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, once again, Ava Thomas, who we've talked so much about.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: She's our Jersey Mike's, a sub-above player of the week once again, scored the overtime winner in the game on Friday to end up beating the Saints.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: That was a game that Boston College was up to nothing.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: They give up the lead, but then they win the game in overtime.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: And look how early into the overtime period it is that Thomas goes in on a breakaway and scores what was just a massive winner for BC.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: So she's been amazing.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the other one that really stands out to me is Maxime Tromblay has been especially good for BC, someone that maybe we haven't talked quite as much about this year.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: She's on a seven-game point streak.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: She has four goals in that little stretch, season high, six shots on Friday.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Katie Crawley was telling us earlier today how impressed she's been at the fact she's doing it at center, which is not necessarily a spot she has a ton of experience, but she's really helped that line play well.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a crucial series, Bridget.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: The other crucial series, Yukon and BU certainly stands out.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yukon coming off that victory in the Nutmeg Classic with a win over Quinnipia Yale.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Yukon coming in as the number seven team in the country now.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: And we talked about how important that would be.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: It was their first win in the nutmeg since 2009, and those wins help go towards Yukon's NPI that could help them make the tournament at the end of the season.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: So that was good for them.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: And their special teams have been a strength this season.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: They have a good power play, they have a good penalty kill.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, they also are the most disciplined team in hockey east.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: They haven't taken a lot of penalties this season.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: So their power play up over 20%, penalty kill 87%, still pretty good.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and Tia Chan has been a presence in net this season.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Once again, she has the most wins among Hockey East goalies.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: She's won 11 of her 15 games.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And the Huskies are coming into this BU series on a four-game win streak, partially due to the great play of Tia Chan.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she's been great.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: We'll talk more about her a little bit later.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: BU is coming off a big win against Holy Cross on Tuesday, 3-0 shutout win.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Mari Peterson, 19 save shutout.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: She's played three straight games now, so that's an interesting conversation.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: Unbeaten in her last three.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: So BU playing well behind Peterson against UConn.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's a pretty big matchup this weekend.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: When we come back, we'll look over at the men's side.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Big one in the border battle with Maine and U and H.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: That kicks off our coverage when we come back.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to this week in Hockey East.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: Another big game, another rivalry game coming up on Friday.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: UNH going up to Maine for two games.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: We'll have the Friday night game for you at 7 o'clock right here on Nesson.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: This is kind of a sneaky, crucial weekend for a bunch of different reasons.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: UNH has a little bit of momentum coming in.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: Maine trying to take care of their home games.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: Let's start with the main side of things.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: They haven't played in a little while since that BC weekend a couple of weekends ago.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: And it was funny talking to Ben Barr this week, Bridget, because for the second weekend in a row, he said, you know, we might have played better in the game that we lost than in the game that we won, but that's just the way it's been going so far.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: They're trying to find that consistency.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: They've definitely been a little bit inconsistent.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's the word that Ben Barr has thrown out a lot over the course of this season.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: So that's really what they're trying to do right now, right?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's trying to find that consistency with their group.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and some players that have been consistent throughout the season have actually been their younger players, their freshmen.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Maine's freshmen continue to be impactful.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about Justin Poirier.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: He stood out again against Boston College.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, two points Friday, including a beautiful power play goal.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: He leads hockey east in goals with 11.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: And he's also fourth in shots.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: So he definitely makes sure to get his chances.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: And another freshman, Miguel Marcus, had two goals Saturday, a three-point weekend, seven points in his last four games.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: And those two freshmen lead Maine in their, uh they're both top two on Maine in terms of points scored.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: So uh a big weekend, Eric.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but the question is, where's the goaltending at, right?
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Albin Boya has not quite lived up to the numbers he had last season.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he struggled a little bit in the game on Friday, but it was more because Mattis Russo played so well on Saturday, shutting out Boston College.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: So Ben Barr said he hopes that Russo playing well might actually push Boya a little bit.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't think we're talking about crazy concern right now.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: We know how good Albin Boya's been, but it's definitely something that we're monitoring and they are monitoring going into this weekend against a UNH team that's playing well, Bridget.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: That is not gonna be an easy challenge.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of a sneaky run that they've been on recently.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just a week and a half ago, they sat with a five and seven record, down three to one against UConn late in the second period.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Then all of a sudden, Jacob Newcomb scores a power play goal.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk more about him in a second.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And now, in their last 85 minutes of game action, they've outscored opponents six to nothing.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: So there's been a turnaround there, and they're coming back to uh 500 on the season.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: They enter this Ravalry series with some momentum because of that.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, here's the thing about UNH, right?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like we're talking about college basketball here when I say this, but if they can get on a run, right?
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: If they can get on a run, UNH has the best resume win of any team in Hockey East, right?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, way back opening night, they went out to Michigan State and beat Michigan State at Mun.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: No one does that.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: No one's done that.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: No one has that big a win.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: So if they can find a way to get on a little bit of a run, that win is going to give them a quality win bonus that will push them into the conversation.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: But they have to get on a run.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: The other thing that's benefiting them is that they have these two games at Maine.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then next week, and we'll talk about this next week, they play the number one team in the NPI in Dartmouth, which obviously has a chance to push them if they could find a way to get those wins.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you have to actually win these games, so it's easier said than done.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: But there is like a kind of recipe there, right?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: If they can sort of get going here.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you mentioned Jacob Newcomb.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: What a great stretch it's been for him.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Three goals on this two-game win streak.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: He has four points, a couple of power play goals, come out of, comes out of the uh Quebec league.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: And that is something worth talking about that's going to be interesting about this matchup.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's something that Jimmy and I are gonna talk about a lot on Friday.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: This is the most heavy CHL influence of any two hockeys teams you could put together, right?
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: There's 15 guys from major juniors on these two rosters.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: Poirier, you mentioned, Newcomb, you mentioned, Felix Gagno, you mentioned, like there's a lot of really important players.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: And it makes sense because if you take a map and you look at like where the teams are in, you know, the OHL a little bit, but really more so the queue, they are surrounding Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, right?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: So these are the teams that you think are gonna really benefit from this, and we're seeing it with the teams on the ice with these uh Maine and New Hampshire this year.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: So that should be a really interesting matchup.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but it's a full weekend of Ness and Games because on Sunday we have more for you.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: We have UMass going to Northeastern, two-game weekend, Saturday, a conference game, Sunday, an out-of-conference game.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: UMass dropped a tough one last week uh to Army West Point, Bridget.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and for UMass, there's still a question in net, right?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Michael Robel is healthy again.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh got back in net and uh got back in the lineup this past week against Army after missing about a month of games due to injury, but he got pulled after giving up five goals in two periods in that game.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: And his head coach Greg Carvel said he didn't seem fully game ready.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: So Carvel said that practice this week was going to determine if he earns the net against Northeastern or if they go back to Jackson Irving, who had been taking over the net with Roble out.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: And one injury update for them as well Justin Kerr, uh center will be out this weekend.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: He's a good face-off guy for them.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: He's been key and he's a guy that UMass likes for both his size and speed, but they'll be without him.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: And UMass has some key defensemen to keep an eye on, I think, in this series.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: That includes one of the better offensive defensemen in the league, Francesco Del Alce.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: He has the third most points among any hockey east defensemen.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: And Larry Keenan, who's an important all-around defenseman, he gets a lot of top matchups.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and they need those guys because they need to score.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's sneaky here.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: UMass is down about like a goal and a half per game in the month of November from what they were in October.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: So they can get their offense going again.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: They should be okay.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's interesting that we see this matchup because Northeastern, this was such an important game for them when they beat UMass in October out in Amherst, because it was right on the heels of ironically enough, a loss to Army, and they really, you know, kind of faced adversity from the first time, but they bounced back.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: They beat UMass in a pretty significant way.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: So that was important for them going on a run.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk about Northeastern uh coming up here in a little bit, but there was also a fairly notable performance last week, Bridget, that we want to take a look at.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was a big weekend for Bruins draft pick James Haggins earlier this week.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: He was named to the U.S.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: World Juniors team uh preliminary roster, one of five current hockey east players named to that team.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: And Hagens is coming off his best weekend of the season, his best game of the season against Notre Dame last Friday, his first career hat trick.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: And because of it, he's our service credit union scoring leader for the week.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: Three goals.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: He's up to nine for the year, twenty for his career, and BC really needed them because they were down in that game.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: So Haggins and Dean Laterno combined for four goals in the victory.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Boston College uh, you know, continues to play well here in the month of November.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Hagen's a huge reason why.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: Nice little shot there uh to beat uh Nicholas Kempf, who might be a teammate of his on that preliminary roster uh for the world junior team.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: So that should be an interesting thing.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: BC's playing lowell this week.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna carry on.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, a special guest coming in when we come back.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: You're watching this week in Hockey East.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to this week in Hockey East.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's time for our interview with Northeastern Defenseman Vinnie Borghese, brought to you by Boston Harbor Hotel.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Plan your getaway today at BostonHarborHotel.com and experience Boston's best waterfront views.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Vinny, welcome into the show.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: I want to start off with something really simple.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: You guys have had a great start to this season.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: What has been one thing or a few things that have allowed you to have success so early this year?
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: The biggest thing for us, you know, coming in the training camp at the beginning of the year was just kind of just gelling together as soon as possible.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, doing things off the ice a little bit, but then coming in and really focusing on what coach has to say and our systems, obviously.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know, for us, it's it's more of a team first game.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, really focusing on the details each and every day and just growing, honestly.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: You know, after we're the first couple weekends, um, we knew what we had in that locker room, and um each and every day we step on that ice and we're finding ways to get better.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: So um, and you can you can really tell each weekend.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: We're just we keep growing as a group, so it's really fun to be a part of.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: Vinny, that game against UMass that you guys played, and it's fitting that you're playing them again this weekend.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's easier for us on the outside to like look at something and think maybe it's a bigger deal than it was.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: But how important was going out, getting that UMass win, coming off the army game and allowing yourselves to build some confidence?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then obviously you went on that stretch of you know Denver and Boston College after that.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: But how crucial a game was that early in the season?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think for us, obviously coming off a loss the weekend before, um, we knew we kind of had to go out there and take care of business.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think it was really important for us to play honest in all three zones.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: We know that they're a really good team.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, they got a lot of weapons.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: So um for us to obviously shut down their best players and you know play the game the right way and play it for 60 full minutes.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: I think we did a really good job, really good job of protecting our net.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: And then when we had chances, we capitalized.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_02: So um, you know, I still think to this day that that was probably our best game this year.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um again, and we and we just built it off of that.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_02: Again, like I said, we kept growing every day.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_02: And after that game, we kind of looked at each other and said, we, you know, we have something special in here, and we just got to keep and build off that game there.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_02: So um that game was exciting and it gave us a little bit of a jump start to uh you know go on that little hot trips there.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: Vinny, you last year you led the country in time on ice, you're once again leading the country in time on ice this year.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: How much is that a role that you embrace and are looking for um, you know, being on the ice as much as you are?
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, to be honest, um I don't really look for it.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, for me, it's again, it's it's a team first kind of thing for us this year.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_02: And again, like whatever this team needs, I'm gonna do.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: So um, you know, it's my job to take care of my body and you know, feel great every day, stepping on that ice, working on things that I need to work on, but also managing my body each and every day.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but again, like it just comes down to you know, whatever the staff needs, whatever this team needs, I'm gonna do.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: So and I wanted to ask you a question about your goaltender this season.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: He's missed a few games here, but Lot and Zach are good off to a really good start, and and that was part of the reason the team's had such success so far.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Can you just talk about the kind of person he is and what he's done for your team so far this year?
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, uh LZ's great.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the guys love him.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_02: He's just an unbelievable guy, um, just a guy you want to be around every day.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, nothing but great things to say about him.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_02: He's uh he's an ultra competitor, and that's what we love here at Northeastern.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, when he steps onto that ice into that crease every game, we have full confidence in him back there.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: And um, it's pretty easy for us D-men to play our game and to trust him back there.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_02: But um, you know, every day he shows up with a smile on his face and just love being around him.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, he works his, he works, he works really, really hard.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_02: So um I'm happy to see him um playing really well right now and um getting back in the cage this weekend for us.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: So that'll be good.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: Vinny, obviously, one of the big storylines this year for you guys is you're in the home stretch now of these final couple of games at Matthews Arena.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, for you as a player, obviously it being your home and you know, potentially what it means for the future and the historic nature of the building.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, all of it combined.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: What what are the emotions here as uh you get set for these final couple of games in your home building?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think for us as a group, honestly, we've been uh I won't I don't want to say beating around the bush, but we haven't really talked about it, to be honest.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: And now the time is here, so we kind of touched on it yesterday a little bit.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: And for me, again, four years in this building and a lot of history, and um, you know, just stepping in here every day and being thankful that we have this rink here.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I tell the guys all the time, like you you really don't realize how much history really is in this building.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: So um, and I kind of touched on it yesterday with the group too.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: Like, we're 15 days out, right?
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, 15 days left in this building.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: So I told our guys, you know, just show up with a smile on your face, um, have a blast down at the rink with the guys, and you know, just work hard.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_02: Every time you step on the ice, it's it's a privilege to play here.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: So um, again, it's it's it's emotional that it's coming down and stuff like that, but we've just been kind of in this flow state of you know playing games, focusing on the weekends, and again, just touching on just all of a sudden kind of popped up into our hands here.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: So again, just just showing up and appreciating that we have this place for the last couple weeks, it's it's gonna be awesome in this building.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And we wanted to touch on the Spangler Cup as well because you were named to the roster of the Spangler Cup.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh have you ever played in Europe?
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been to Switzerland?
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: And what are you looking forward to going and playing?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and are there any guys you're looking forward to playing with in the Spangler Cup?
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, um, I've played in uh Dab, or not Dabbo, sorry, I've played in Lausanne a while ago in Switzerland um with Team USA way back in the day when I was I was younger.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: But um, you know, I'm really excited.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um obviously it's a privilege and it's an honor to uh be named on that team.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um but to be honest, right now I'm you know full hands on deck what to uh what to do here and um handle what's going on here first, and then obviously super excited to get out there with that group um and just put my best foot forward to help that team win in any way possible.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm really looking forward to it.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: But um for us here, these last three games, you know, are really important for us and really important for me.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: So um just gonna take it, enjoy it, and then when that time comes, I'll be ready to go.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: So all right.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Binnya Borgacy, for joining us on this week in Hockey East.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: When we come back, we're gonna go around some of the women's leaders from Hockey East so far that's coming up next on Nessen.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to look at the women's leaders around Hockey East, presented by Boston Children's Hospital, the official children's hospital of Hockey East, Boston Children's Hospital, where the world comes for answers.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we're at the natural halfway point of the season with the women's slate ending this week.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: We thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the players who are running for those postseason awards in the front, running for that at this point.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: We've already hit on a couple of the big ones with Lily Shannon and Ava Thomas, but let's talk about some of the other top players in the woman's side so far and who might be going for some of those end of season awards.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I feel like the all-rookie team is where this is gonna get interesting, the all-freshman team, right?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: We talked about Ava Thomas a little bit more.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, how good has Violet Carroll been, though, for Holy Cross, leading Holy Cross with 18 points?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: I've been impressed with how much offense she's generated.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, four shots, four plus shots a bunch of times, five plus shots a bunch of time.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: You see that a lot.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: Had that notable um two-goal, three-point game against UConn earlier this month.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: So uh she's one that's definitely stood out to me, Bridget.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and Skylar Zablocki, I think, is another person you put in that running for rookie of the year.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: She was the Hockey East rookie of the month in November.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: She's got seven goals already.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, that's the second most among Hockey East uh freshmen, and that's behind Ava Thomas, right?
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: So Ava Thomas, Violet Carroll, Skylar Zablocki, all up with a lot of good offensive numbers so far.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: And Zablocki was one of the top recruits out of Canada this year for men's or women's.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: So she was very highly regarded, and I feel like she does have another gear that she can hit in the second half.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think so.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Nina Rossi's the other one for UNH, especially because she scored a shorty on Tuesday against Northeastern points in three of her last four uh top 10 and points overall in the league.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, coming into this year, there was a goalie question, right?
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: Of you know, Tia Chan did it half, a little more than half the time.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: Now can she do it all the time?
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: And Bridget, the answer has certainly been yes.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think she's probably the front runner for goalie of the year at this point.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: She leads all eligible hockey East goalies and wins with 11.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: Her save percentage is also top of Hockey East with a 9-4-9 save percentage.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: She's the C, and she's been a big reason why Yukon has a 12-3-in-1 record so far.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Abby Horning's been really good as well.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: 931 save percentage in hockey games this year for Holy Cross.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: Lisa Junsen's been really good as well.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: So that's going to be an interesting conversation, also.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we've talked about Lily Shannon.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like weirdly, the player of the year and the D of the year might actually be the easier ones to figure out versus the the freshman of the year.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of goalies playing well.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: But um the top D is an interesting one, right?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: Because Jules Constantinople has been so good for Northeastern.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we had her on last week on the show.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: She was a great interview as well, but she leads all hockey east defensemen in goals, assists, points, points per game, and power play goals.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: So she's just so far ahead of the rest of the defensemen in terms of offensive production.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: And she also logs a lot of times.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: She was really impressive in that series with Penn State.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: I thought she won the battles against some of the top forwards in the country when she matches up against other teams.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: She's going against their best players, and a lot of times she's coming out on top.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I really feel like she's in the front of the pack for that, but we'll see what happens in the second half.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, can't wait.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: That Northeastern BC series is going to be so much fun.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: All the games this week are going to be so much fun.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Can't wait to watch them.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: By the way, quick note men's hockeys championship tickets back at TD Garden on sale right now, March 20th, March 21st, back to a Friday, Saturday.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: You can go get those right now at ticketmaster.com.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for joining us.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: We'll have one more episode next week before we hit the holiday break.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll talk to you then.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining us on this week in Hockey East.